Thunder

“You’ll always be my thunder.”

Abigail couldn’t help but smile brightly up at the boy in front of her. “What do you even mean by that?” she giggled, as the rain began pouring heavily on the two, but they didn’t seem to notice, or care.

“Exactly what you said about thunder – it’s calming. In the fast few hours that I’ve known you, you’ve seemed to calm me,” Alex explained, flicking the rain out of his hair, looking like a dog.

“Maybe we should head back to your house?” Abigail yelled over the thunder, lightning, and rain.

“Maybe,” Alex laughed, mocking her tone. “Abigail, can you do me a favor? Please,” he had to admit, though, he was scared to even bring up what he was about to ask her.

“Depends on the favor.”

“Can you stay for dinner? And, you know… keep your food down… for me,” Alex bit his lip nervously. He honestly hoped this wouldn’t offend her at all.

“I can’t promise I will, Alex. I’ll try, though. I, uh… I’ll text my dad and tell him I’m staying for dinner,” Abigail tried to force a smile, but just the simple thought of her father made her upset. “I kind of told him I was with a girl,” she confessed, her cheeks turning a bright, crimson red.

“Why?” Alex asked dumbfounded. Did her dad think she was a lesbian? Or was he just not comfortable with her being around guys by herself? But, much to Alex’s disbelief, it wasn’t exactly just her father being uncomfortable.

“He thinks I’m a whore,” she shrugged carelessly, tapping away at her phone, despite the rain, clicking the green “send” button. “I’m not sure why. I’ve never even kissed. I’ve literally never had a boyfriend, either. I just tell people I have a ‘small variety’ of exes… so I, uh, don’t seem too pathetic,” she confessed willingly, feeling nervous.

Abigail couldn’t believe she was admitting all of her secrets to a guy she just met, let alone the guy who was practically on top of the world.

“Really?” Alex asked, cocking a bushy brow at her. “I mean… you’re beautiful. I don’t get it.”

“Thanks, but we both know that’s not true,” Abigail whipped her hair across her head. She hated having this argument with people. It made her feel incredibly awkward and uncomfortable. “Come on, let’s go back to your house. I told my dad that Alexis and I met you up at the park, and I was going to eat dinner at your place.”

Alex had to admit, he admired her bravery. After she confessed that her father, for some reason, thought she was a whore, she would tell him that she was going to a boy’s house. Without knowing how to respond to what she told him, they began walking down the concrete sidewalk, on the way to Alex’s house.

Without intention, it almost came naturally, Alex, without saying a word, reached over and placed his hand in Abigail’s hand. What surprised him most, though, was that she didn’t flinch at all, she simply intertwined their fingers, squeezed his hand (which caused him to beam at her with delight), and pulled him closer to her. “Thank you… Alex, for everything,” she whispered, over the rain, though, it was almost inaudible to hear, but Alex heard it, and he was glad he did.

“You’re welcome, Thunder,” he laughed to himself, turning to wink at her. “Seriously, though. You’re welcome.”

——-

They entered Alex’s home, soaking wet, just as Isobel looked over from her place at the oven, with a wash of relief on her face. “Alexander, it’s nearly 6 o’clock. I was worried-“

Alex cut his mom off, before they started a screaming match. He knew that if she knew the whole story she’d understand, but he couldn’t tell her the whole story. “Mom, calm down, we were talking and lost track of time.”

Isobel caught the urgency in her son’s voice, and simply nodded, looking over the two soak-sopping-wet teenagers in front of her, laughing a little bit. What also caught her eye, though, was that the faint bruise she had seen on Abigail just recently now seemed to dominate a large portion of her jaw, moving to her cheek.

Brushing it off, not wanting to make a scene about something that might be an innocent bruise, Isobel smiled at the pair, looking their intertwined fingers. “Alex, go get changed in some dry clothes. Abigail, dear, are you staying for dinner?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Abigail smiled graciously, feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket, but not wanting to be rude and pick it up while she was talking. It was probably her father. All she knew, though, was that she was excited to be able to eat without being criticized.

Alex looked over at Abigail questionably, noticing the grin on her face as dinner was mentioned. He silently hoped that she would be able to keep down her dinner.

“In that case, you two go upstairs. Alexander, you change into some dry clothes and give Abigail here something comfortable to wear for the time being,” Isobel couldn’t but glue her eyes on the pair’s hands. She’d never seen her son do such an innocent gesture with a girl. He always either very distant from whoever he brought home, or obnoxiously all over them. This was different.

“We’ll be back in a few minutes,” Alex smirked at his mom, as he noticed her eyes still on his and Abigail’s hands. “C’mon, Abigail,” he whispered to her, as she moved closer to him, looking scared almost.

When they finally reached Alex’s room, Abigail smiled, taking every aspect in. It was the first time she’d been in a boy’s room at all. She took in everything, from the Blink-182 posters covering the wall, to the acoustic guitar lying next to the computer desk, right down to the pile of what she assumed to be messy clothes on the floor.

Before she could comment on the room, she remembered that she had received a text. While Alex was digging around in his drawers for clothes for the both of them, she pulled out the black, rectangular object, doing her best to wipe the water off of the screen.

She immediately felt as if she wanted to just leave Alex’s house and skip dinner again. Her heart sunk to the floor when she read the clear text on her phone. From: Dad Wow. You fucking whore. You’re only going to his house for “dinner” to fuck him. I bet you’ll say he raped you, too. You know what, spend the night, too. I don’t fucking care. I hope you get fucking pregnant or some STD. All I know is if you come home tonight, I’m beating the fuck out of you for whoring around again. I’m not fucking stupid, Abigail. Here’s some advice. Don’t eat. You’re getting too fat as it is.

Alex turned around to face Abigail to hand her the clothes he had found – a plaid over shirt with a black V-neck and a pair of basketball shorts – only to be face with the brunette girl staring at her phone intensely, and sobbing.

“Abigail… Abigail, what’s wrong?” Alex walked over to the girl, trying desperately to get her to look at him.

Finally realizing that she couldn’t even speak, he took the phone out of her hands and read the text from her father. Deleting the text and tossing her phone on the bed, he felt the anger build up inside of him. Clenching his fists together so tightly that his knuckles turned white, “I’m going to fucking kill your father. Where do you live?”

The anger erupting in Alex’s eyes terrified Abigail. She hated seeing people get that angry. It always made her feel like she was about to get hit. “Alex, no!” she said, entirely too loud by accident. “Please, don’t,” she whispered, grabbing onto his hand.

Alex swore he saw every bit of fear and sadness in her blue eyes, and he wanted to cry himself. “Okay,” he unclenched his fists, bending down to pick up the clothes. “Here ya go,” the shaggy haired boy said awkwardly, handing her the shirt first.

Stripping from her own white V-neck and hoodie for the second time that day, she pulled Alex’s black shirt over her damp camisole and slipped on the plaid over shirt over shirt, smiling as she breathed in the familiar smell of Alex.

Next, he handed her the maroon basketball shorts. Almost immediately, panic slapped Abigail in the face. “Alex, I can’t… I can’t wear these,” she stammered. The last thing she needed was Isobel seeing her cut up legs. Worriedly, Abigail quickly shoved the shorts back in Alex’s hands.

“What? Why not?” he asked, looking at the girl questionably.

“I…” she didn’t know where to begin. “I’m going to show you. Just don’t freak out, okay?” Abigail finally said, unbuttoning her skinny jeans for a wide eyed Alex. “I’m not stripping for you, chill,” she joked, causing him to smile.

The minute she took the jeans off of her unnaturally thin legs, she revealed the bruised knees and black boy shorts. After Alex got past that, he saw what she meant. Her legs… were so much worse than her arms. He didn’t think it got worse than her arms. The cuts on her legs were literally everywhere. They started at her thighs and just went down. Some were big, some were small. Some were words and phrases. Some were horizontal and some vertical.

“Abigail… I…” he didn’t know what to say. He wanted to hug her, but he certainly couldn’t do that right now without making things even more awkward.

“It’s fine… do you have, uh… do you have pajama pants or something I could maybe wear?” she asked, kicking her skinny jeans, shirt, and hoodie to the foot of Alex’s bed.

“Y-yeah…” Alex quickly turned around; trying to process everything he had just seen. Her legs were incredibly thin, so thin that you could almost see every single bone. The cuts were everywhere. She really did want to die, and that terrified him more than anything.

Taking out a pair of blue plaid pajama pants and an outfit for himself – a shirt from Glamour Kills and the basketball shorts he had just handed Abigail – he tossed the pants to Abigail, who quickly put them on, feeling more insecure than ever. She had never willingly had her pants off in front a guy before.

Much to her surprise, Alex’s pants fit her; they were even a little bit bigger. “Alex, I don’t think…” Right when she looked up at Alex, he was wearing nothing but the black GK shirt and a pair of red boxers. “Oh, um…”

Alex laughed as Abigail stared at him, mesmerized, almost. “What were you saying?” he asked, sliding the shorts on, walking over to the suddenly nervous girl.

“I don’t think I’m going to eat dinner,” she blurted out quickly, regretting it once she saw Alex’s face fall. “I need, uh… an excuse to tell your mom…”

“If this about what your dad said… please don’t listen to him. You should eat dinner. If anything, you need to.”

Reluctantly, she gave in. For some reason, Alex already had that affect over her. Not knowing what else to say, Abigail threw herself at Alex’s chest, wrapping her arms around his middle.

Hugging her back, tightly, Alex rested his chin on the top of her head. “Do you want to stay the night tonight? I don’t trust you going back home. I, uh… I don’t think it’s safe.”

“Al-alex… You don’t have to… keep me here. Don’t give me pity… really,” Abigail bit her lip nervously. She wanted to stay with Alex. She knew he was probably right. It probably was safer here. But she didn’t know if she could make it through the night without flashbacks and nightmares. When she had them at home, her father ignored her, yelling at her to “shut the fuck up”. Abigail knew for a fact that Alex would wake her up and want to talk about it. She also knew that she’d wake Isobel up, who’d also have questions.

“I don’t feel sorry for you. I want you to stay.”

“Really? What about your mom… She’s going to let some girl she just met stay at her house with her teenage son?” Abigail raised one of her own thin, brown eyebrows.

Alex laughed, finally understanding what Abigail was getting at. “I’ll tell her that you and your dad had a fight, or that he’s out on a business trip, and that you need a place to stay for the night, if not longer.”

Longer? Abigail was torn between two emotions with that thought. She was honestly thrilled that Alex wanted her to stay longer. On the other hand, she was horrified what her father would say to her if she stayed here longer than tonight.

“Okay, I’ll stay,” Abigail finally agreed to the idea. She was just praying that this night would be an exception to the nightmares and flashbacks.

“Thank you,” Alex said, smiling at her, while Abigail didn’t exactly know what he was thanking her for. “Dinner’s probably ready by now,” Alex said, as he started walking to his door.

Turning back to see Abigail, staring at the floor questionably, he walked back over to her, lifting her chin so that she looking into his eyes. “C’mon, Thunder,” he said, placing his lips on her forehead.

Abigail couldn’t help but smile when Alex called her Thunder. It made her feel needed and loved – something she’d been begging for, for so long. She also couldn’t help but smile at the feeling in her stomach when Alex’s lips came in contact with her skin for the second time that day.

Placing her hand in hers, and making sure to intertwine their fingers, Abigail finally smiled her first real, genuine smile in a long time.

Maybe Alex was right. Maybe things were actually going to get better.